April Gateway meeting: Wednesday,
April 13 at the Columns
in St. Charles. Jim
Kramper of the National
Weather Service will speak on the weather spotter program. We invite all MPA members and their guests to join us!
Dinner buffet will include crudite
tray with ranch dip, cream of broccoli soup, roasted Cornish hens, beef Stroganoff, buttered noodles, peas and
carrots, rolls and butter, and peach cobbler for
dessert. Dinner has increased to $14/person. Doors open at 6 pm, serving begins at 6:30 pm and the
program gets underway at 7:30 pm with a short business meeting to follow. Phone your dinner reservations
to Jean Murry at 314-469-3541
by 3 pm Monday, March 7. Please join us and remember to bring a friend and get a free 50/50 ticket.

The nominating committee, Chuck Maggart, Al Lowe, and DougGeldbach will present their slate of officer and director
nominees for 2005-2006 at the April meeting. Please let the committee know if you are interested in serving
the chapter as an officer or director next year.

At the April meeting, we will be collecting
old aviation supplies and training aids (e.g. sectional charts, E6B computers, plotters, etc.) to be used in educational
programs at the St. Louis Science Center. The curators hope that the availability of supplies that pilots
actually use in flight planning will spark an interest in aviation in some of their young visitors.
Also at the St. Louis Science Center, the Omni-Max Theater is showing Fighter Pilot
daily from March 18 through May 29.

Twenty-eight members and guests attended
the March meeting to hear Col.Scott Adams,
USAF, Chief of the Aeronautical Division, Office
of Global Navigation at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), formerly the Defense Mapping Agency.
Prior to his assignment with the NGA, Col. Scott flew A-10s (also known as the Warthog) in which he has 2800 flying
hours, plus another 1400 hours in the T-33. His groupís job at the NGA is to provide information about where
things are and when they are going to be there to flight crews, the intelligence community, and national decision
makers. Because of their precise databases of aeronautical flight information, vertical obstructions, etc.
they also work with the FAA and Jeppesen to provide accurate mapping. Everybody present enjoyed a great speaker
on a great topic.

We were all saddened by the untimely
death of Bob Boelling, Gateway Chapter member and president of the
Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum, on the evening of March 8, 2005. Memorial gifts may be made to the
Greater St. Louis Air and Space Museum, 2300 Vector Dr., Cahokia, IL 62206.

News from the March meeting: The Easter Bunnyís helper, Suzanne Solon, brought 11 Easter baskets and other goodies for the 50/50 raffle. A
big thank you, especially from the winners! Ed
Meyer brought his niece,
Linda Meyer, to the March meeting. She flies Lear
jets for the Air Force out of Scott Field and is currently looking for post-retirement work in the St. Louis area.
Chuck Maggart announced that his Zenith Zodiac kit has arrived
and his home workshop is nearly complete. We know where Chuck will be for the next year or two! Do
you think his Tri-pacer will get lonely?

Fourteen members and guests in five
aircraft made the trip to Sikeston, MO on Sunday, March 13, where we stuffed ourselves with good old down-home
country cooking at Lambertís Restaurant. The next chapter fly-out is scheduled for Sunday, April 16, to Decatur, IL (DEC). The terminal restaurant serves a brunch
buffet that is very popular with the locals, and there are some wonderful airplane models hanging from the
ceiling to please the fly-in folks. If you have a chance, check out the display cases in the rest of the
terminal as well.

Lana Maggart handed out fliers to be placed in schools announcing
the MPA Aerospace Teacher
Scholarships.
This $600 scholarship covers all the expenses for the two-week course (classes, housing, and materials) for a K-12
teacher. Deadline for submission of application letters is May 17.

News from State: Mike Curtis,
president of the Southwest Missouri Chapter, announced that the 2005 state convention will be Saturday, June 11,
at the Neosho airport. The featured speaker will be Dick Rutan,
who flew around the world with Jeanna Yeager in 1986 in the Burt Rutan Voyager. Dr. Carlene Mendieta who flew an Avro Avian 7083 on a recreation of Amelia Earhartís flight across
America, will also speak. There will be static displays and Young Eagle flights at the airport.
An announcement and registration form are included with this newsletter.

The MPA Air Tour and Overnighter
are planned for Saturday,
April 23 (Rain date, Saturday, April 30). The Air
Tour participants will meet at Lebanon (LBO) for lunch at 1100 CDT with the poker run departure at 1200 CDT for
West Plains (UNO), Salem (K33), Rolla National (VIH), and finally to Grand Glaize (G15) where there will be flour
drop and spot landing contests at approximately 1600 CDT. An ante of $10.00 includes 1 flour bomb.
Folks can ante up as many times as they like. The high poker hand gets ½ of the pot, while the flour
drop and spot landing winners get ¼ of the pot each. Folks who donít want to participate in the flying
events can spend Saturday in Osage Beach. Meet at Grand Glaize (K15) at 900 CDT for coffee and donuts.
At about 1000 CDT the group will head to Osage beach for lunch at Willmore Lodge, and afternoon outings.
The pilots and landlubbers will regroup at Grand Glaize for the afternoon flying festivities. Dinner for
all will be at 5:30 pm at a location to be announced. Those who would like may stay overnight on Saturday
at the Motel 8 (573-303-0088, ask for the MPA rate). Hosts for this event are Sarah and Mac McKinley.
Contact them by April 20 at 816-320-3462 or flyingmacs@aol.com.

Margaret Ringenberg, WASP, flight instructor, and air race competitor
with over 150 trophies and 40,000 flight hours, will speak at the AIAA meeting on April 28
at Boeing Building 100 Auditorium. Social hour (dollar sandwiches, chips, and drinks) is at 5:00 to 6:00
pm and the program begins at 6:00 pm. Tickets are $8 for AIAA members, $10 for non-members or $2 for the
presentation only. Non-Boeing attendees MUST pre-register with name and nationality by 5:00 pm Monday, April 25,
with Darin Haudrich at 314-233-7554 or darin.p.haudrich@boeing.com for access to the Boeing property.

Joe Dobronskiís
revision of A Sky Full of Challenges, is now available. The book is not only Joeís autobiography but also
a history of McDonnellís Flight test as seen through his eyes. The new edition is 225 pages long and has
over 250 photos. The price is $25 cash and carry, or add $2.50 for shipping and handling. Note that the price has
been incorrect in the last two newsletters and I promised Joe Iíd get it right this time! The book can be
ordered from J.F. Dobronski, 1008 Cla-Ter-Ri Dr., Ballwin, MO 63011, or www.omnishops.com/TestPilot.

Libby Yunger
Newsletter Editor
(314) 725-0428

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